Any sport compatible with drinking is probably compatible with music. Portland bands should be thankful Bayside Bowl has figured that out. As if the truly good food and cheap bar weren't enough, Bayside folds its bowling-shoe rentals into the door fee on many live-music nights. This way, if one of the bands in a lineup doesn't strike your fancy, you can throw some strikes of your own.
From the lanes, Jesse Pilgrim's set sounded broadcast from Folsom Prison. Songs like these are fit for bold storytelling, and Pilgrim's clear, brassy pipes were a shiny and inclusive welcome.
Playing the slowest and most contemplative set of the evening, Jakob Battick and his band were a better accompaniment for a rousing bar conversation or a late dinner than for clobbering spares. His sinewy guitar lines and slow-building songs require a less distracting environment. Billy Libby's immaculate hooks and melodies seemed apt for those young bowlers on awkward kinda-sorta dates.
If Jacob Augustine didn't exist in Portland, it would be necessary to invent him. Possessing the stage presence and integrity of a firebrand preacher (except without all the answers), Augustine commands urgency and attention. His nine-piece misfit gospel band blends the Western-Baltic flourishes of Beirut with the post-punk immediacy of World/Inferno, but it's the unadorned earnestness of the man himself that binds it all together. His is an impressive voice that can hold a bowling alley rapt, and it'd be interesting to see what the House of Fire does on bigger stages.
Related:
A groundswell of support for Eastwave Radio, Huak + Metal Feathers at Bayside Bowl, September 24, Songwriters unite, More 
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You may have heard by now that the guys in EASTWAVE RADIO were in an accident while on tour in Canada and wound up pretty seriously injured.
- Huak + Metal Feathers at Bayside Bowl, September 24
The DJ at Bayside Bowl can't stop playing the Pixies' Bossanova. Not that anyone's complaining.
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Following up on his run as president of the MAINE SONGWRITERS ALLIANCE , BOB MCKILLOP has now founded a Portland chapter of the NASHVILLE SONGWRITERS ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL .
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NOW IS NOW frontman MITCH ALDEN has plans for a solo release. The party's scheduled for January 21 at RiRa. Expect some seriously upbeat power pop.
- Atomik at Bayside Bowl, March 15
Having a DJ (or, in this case, two) play your bowling night is a luxury, but damned if it doesn't seem like an obligatory one on occasion.
- The State Theatre: This is actually going to work
There's no question that the reopening of the State Theatre has people in this town pretty damn excited. As photos of the reconstruction have leaked out, the fever has built, often almost completely irrespective of that bands that have so far been lined up to play its stage.
- Photos: Roger Waters performing ''The Wall'' live at TD Garden
Roger Waters performs The Wall live at the TD Garden on October 3, 2010.
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Jersey Shore 's DJ Pauly D returned to Royale on September 18, 2010.
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It’s 20 years and counting for iconic hardcore-punk quartet Dropdead.
- Kate Schrock picks up a backbeat
This happens in music all the time, of course: People with no obvious commonality come together because the music they make sounds good. Thus we have Kate and the Rocket.
- Photos: Cambridge Carnival International | September 12, 2010
Crowds enjoy multicultural crafts and music at the 18th annual Cambridge Carnival International at Kendall Square on September 12, 2010.
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New England Music News
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